With Spring in full bloom it’s the perfect time to give you home garden an upgrade. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best flowers to plant in your yard for the most colorful season. So grab your sheers and all those other gardening tools(we’ll leave the precise names to the pros) and add some flair to your outdoor abode!
Pansy
Cool weather is just what pansy prefers. It’s an annual that gardeners flock to because it’s one of the best flowers to plant in spring for early-season containers and window boxes, relishing the variety in petal color as much as the cheery uplifted blooms.
Name: Viola x wittrockiana
Growing conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 10 inches tall and 12 inches wide
Hellebore
Also known as a Lenten rose or Christmas rose, hellebores produce spring flowers of delicate beauty and surprising resilience. In warmer climates, it may even tolerate light frosts, making it one of the best flowers to plant in spring. For unusual flowers, ask at your nursery about double-bloom varieties.
Name: Helleborus niger
Growing conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide
Snowdrop Anemone
Fragrant and festive, the bright clusters of snowdrop anemone work well even in a spring garden that’s slightly shaded. Bonus: Once the cooler temperatures of fall arrive, the plant may put on a second bloom show in the garden.
Name: Anemone nemorosa
Growing conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall and 12 inches wide
Lilac
There’s no sweeter spring fragrance than the blooms of this cottage-garden favorite. Lilac varieties, one of the best flowers to plant in spring, come in all shapes and sizes, from dwarf shrubs to taller trees.
Spring flower tip: The lilac blooms on old wood, so hold off on pruning until right after the same year’s flowering is finished.
Name: Syringa vulgaris
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 20 feet tall and wide
‘Acoma’ Iris
Pick your favorite color, and there’s likely an iris to fill your spring garden need. Most put on their bloom show toward the end of spring, but the plants’ tall growth and delectable petal variations make them pretty additions to a variety of garden styles.
Name: Iris ‘Acoma’
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 34 inches tall and 12 inches wide
Grape Hyacinth
As much as any other spring bulbs, grape hyacinths trumpet the arrival of spring. Clustered flowers hang lusciously from sturdy stalks, resembling bundles of grapes; they are one of the most beautiful and best flowers to plant in spring.
Name: Muscari armeniacum
Growing conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and 6 inches wide
Daffodil
If it is spring, it’s time for a show of daffodils. The bright, jovial spring flower has a range of shapes and sizes, from trumpet to small- and large-cupped to double. Deer find them less palatable than other spring plants, but the foliage should be left to die back on its own to rejuvenate the plants for the following year.
Name: Narcissus selections
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall and wide
Tulip
With innate cheerfulness and beauty, a tulip, one of the best flowers to plant in spring, lends itself to a variety of garden settings—from formal border gardens to naturalistic, casual settings. And there’s a tulip for every gardener, from diminutive 4-inch-tall specimens to extravagant multi-foot-high blooms.
Name: Tulipa selections
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide
Puschkinia
Inside the blooms of snowdrift is an exquisite surprise: striped flowers that offer surprising color variation. Tall foliage stalks make these a good companion to lower spring growers such as crocus and one of the best flowers to plant in spring.
Name: Puschkinia scilloides
Growing conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and 6 inches wide
‘Pink Discovery’ Azalea
Its bright color burst is short-lived, but ‘Pink Discovery’ azalea’s solid mass of flamboyant flowers provides a just-right transition from spring to summer bloomers. Pair the shrubs with hellebores, as in this sidewalk border, for an early-season showstopper.
Name: Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanensis ‘Pink Discovery’
Growing conditions: Part shade and moist but well-drained acidic soil
Size: To 10 feet tall and wide